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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26207716">but i love it when the light sits on you just right</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeksalad/pseuds/greeksalad'>greeksalad</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ah yes, sapphics (avatar wlw week) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Angst, Sparring, author extensively uses sunlight as a metaphor, because im a cheesy sap okay leave me alone, teenage!kyalin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:15:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,772</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26207716</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeksalad/pseuds/greeksalad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A boulder flies through the air and shatters against the cobblestones.</p><p>Lin probably shouldn’t find the destruction of one of Air Temple Island’s many beautiful gardens as cathartic as she does.</p><p><i>Oh well,</i> she thinks, and slams another rock into the ground.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lin Beifong/Kya II</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ah yes, sapphics (avatar wlw week) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903480</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>207</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>but i love it when the light sits on you just right</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>prompt: before war (childhood)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A boulder flies through the air and shatters against the cobblestones.</p><p>Lin probably shouldn’t find the destruction of one of Air Temple Island’s many beautiful gardens as cathartic as she does.</p><p><em>Oh well, </em>she thinks, and slams another rock into the ground.</p><p>For as long as Lin can remember, she’s used training (or just, y’know, punching rocks) as a… what does Katara call it? A <em>coping mechanism</em>. Lin thinks all that psychological mumbo-jumbo is absolute bullshit, much to her girlfriend’s unending frustration, but she can’t deny that going to town on some rocks is a great form of stress relief.</p><p>Letting her mind slip into that perfect trance-like state, where she’s solely focused on the earth around her and the movements of her body, Lin runs through a series of basic earthbending forms, enjoying the feeling of sun-warmed stone against her bare feet and the easy flow of qi through her core. She flows from a punch into a roll, then into a series of short, powerful kicks. The earth cracks and splinters beneath each impact of her foot. Heaving her arms upwards, she pulls a chunk of stone from the ground and, with a sharp grunt, hurls it across the courtyard.</p><p>Lin doesn’t let herself stop, just wipes the sweat from her brow and keeps moving. One after another, she lifts pieces of rock and, with a spinning kick, sends them flying at the opposite wall to shatter against the stone, over and over and over. She finds the repetition soothing.</p><p>Her muscles have begun to ache; it’s the sweet, sweet burn that comes from a good workout, but it’s not enough. She needs <em>more. </em>She needs it to <em>hurt. </em>Maybe then, she won’t have to think.</p><p>“I feel like I should be mad about you messing up my dad’s garden, but mainly I’m just impressed.”</p><p>Lin spins around, the chunk of earth hovering in front of her falling to the ground with a dull thud as her concentration breaks. Kya’s standing at the mouth of the courtyard, hands resting amusedly on her hips and one eyebrow quirked. Lin’s known Kya for years, though, has studied every minuscule expression and mannerism with the fervour of a scholar, and there’s a slight downturn to one corner of her mouth that reveals her veiled worry. </p><p>“How long have you been there?”</p><p>“Long enough to admire you in that tank top,” Kya teases, eyes glinting mischievously at her own flirtation. When Lin doesn’t respond, doesn’t roll her eyes fondly or huff, she sobers up a little and cocks her head to one side. She looks alarmingly like Katara. “Why didn’t you tell me you were here?” she asks quietly.</p><p>Lin just shrugs, because she doesn’t know how to say <em>I come here when I’m angry because my family can’t seismically locate me here through all the water </em>and <em>I just want to be alone right now, but also I want nothing more than for you to stay with me </em>without sounding like a freak. She watches helplessly, fists clenching and unclenching at her sides, as Kya’s attempt at lightening the mood dissolves into concern, feeling so tightly-wound that any movement at all will cause her to topple off the edge of a cliff she’s been trying to avoid for so long. “Are you okay?”</p><p>And just like that, in the face of Kya’s genuine, caring attention, given to her so easily, so <em>freely, </em>all the emotion that’s been clogging up Lin’s throat for the last half an hour comes flooding out. The choked-up sobs that tear involuntarily past her lips feel like an oil spill, thick and cloying and <em>wrong.</em></p><p>Kya’s eyes go wide for a second, and then she’s opening her arms – not moving towards Lin, not forcing her into anything, but making it clear that the option is there. Gratefully, Lin rushes forward and slumps into her girlfriend’s arms, burying her face in the warm skin of her shoulder. She’s not used to being so emotional – the last time she cried like this was when she was ten, after Uncle Sokka went away to the Earth Kingdom and she’d thought he wasn’t coming back. She feels absolutely pathetic, but Kya doesn’t seem bothered, just gently cards her fingers through Lin’s hair until her breathing evens out.</p><p>When Lin feels less wrung-out, she lifts her head enough to kiss a silent <em>thank you </em>against Kya’s jaw. There’s a twinge of embarrassment at the feeling of the damp patch now on the front of Kya’s shirt, but if Kya’s noticed, which she surely has, she doesn’t comment on it.</p><p>“Want to talk about it?” Kya asks, but Lin’s vehemently shaking her head before she’s even finished her sentence.</p><p>“Just want a hug,” Lin mumbles, and she’s acutely aware of how scratchy her voice sounds. “And maybe to smash some more rocks.”</p><p>To her credit, Kya knows Lin well enough not to push the talking thing. Instead, she just huffs out a little contemplative noise and twirls a strand of Lin’s hair loosely around one finger, tugging on it gently. Lin figures she’s probably coming up with some kind of reassurance or plan, but she can’t quite bring herself to try and figure out where her girlfriend’s sharp mind is going, perfectly content to mindlessly soak in Kya’s calming aura and the sun-soaked warmth of her body.</p><p>Lin’s taken by surprise when Kya carefully ducks under the loop of Lin’s arms around her shoulders, escaping the hug, and takes half a step back. She’s even <em>more </em>surprised when Kya reaches up and tugs her shirt over her head, leaving her in a pair of loose trousers and her bindings.</p><p>Kya notices Lin’s confusion and smiles casually, like she didn’t just bare miles of soft brown skin before Lin’s very eyes. “I don’t want to get sweat stains on my shirt,” she says, and yeah, sure, that kinda makes sense, because it’s early afternoon in the height of summer and the sun is so hot that it’s a physical weight, but that still doesn’t really explain what’s going on.</p><p>Lin watches bemusedly as her girlfriend runs through a series of quick, fluid stretches, bending over at the waist and skimming the ground with her fingers, before she settles back on the balls of her feet, smiling mischievously. Kya crooks her fingers in a beckoning motion. “Come at me, then.”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>Kya steps backward until her legs are slightly apart, knees bent, and both of her hands come up in a striking position. A thin stream of water flows from a fountain on the other side of the courtyard and curves around Kya’s back, encasing her hands in liquid. Kya quirks an eyebrow and says, “You said you wanted to throw some rocks around, right? Well, here’s your chance.”</p><p>The final piece clicks into place. Lin’s eyes widened slightly. Kya wants to… fight her?</p><p>They’ve sparred before – plenty of times, in fact – and maybe it’s the rage still bubbling just beneath Lin’s skin, but something makes Lin hesitate. “Are you sure? I don’t want to hurt you.”</p><p>Kya scoffs. “<em>Please. </em>As if you could.”</p><p>When Lin continues to hesitate, Kya stretches out a hand, and a tendril of water whips at Lin’s ankle playfully. Lin startles backwards, a noise halfway between a yelp and an exasperated laugh escaping her lips.</p><p>(It’s nice, being able to laugh.)</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>The words are soft, shifting the mood from playful to serious with whiplash-inducing speed. Lin looks up, meeting Kya’s gaze. It’s not a particularly intense look, but the sheer amount of <em>understanding </em>in Kya’s eyes feels heavy enough to drown in.</p><p>“I trust you,” Kya says. Her voice is quiet, but it carries through the courtyard like the wind is cradling her words with fleet wings, and Lin <em>trusts her.</em></p><p>Stomping onto the stone hard enough to create indents below each foot, Lin raises her fists, and the power surging through her veins and pooling in her heels, in her thighs, as columns of stone erupt on either side of her feels <em>so good.</em></p><p>Kya laughs, and water and earth collide in an explosion of mud and dust.</p><p>They’ve fought together so often, know each other’s bodies and styles as well as their own, that they can easily predict the other’s next move. It becomes a dance of sorts, a graceful trading between striking and dodging. A thick jet of water comes flying at Lin’s legs, and she leaps lazily out of the way, already sending a sharp shard of earth hurtling at Kya’s head. Kya’s nothing more than swirls of blue and long, fluid limbs, spinning and whirling like a leaf on the wind. In an odd juxtaposition to the craterous, muddy earth surrounding them, she looks perfectly at peace, and, strangely enough, Lin can’t help but feel the same. Her mind settles, slipping into fight mode, and there’s nothing but <em>earth </em>and <em>sun </em>and <em>Kya</em>.</p><p>It’s <em>perfect</em>.</p><p>They fight until their bodies <em>hurt </em>and Lin’s mind is sluggishly, blissfully quiet, and then they flop onto their backs on one of the few surviving cobblestone slabs.  The sun has just begun to hang low in the sky, turning the light bathing the Island from a brilliant, blinding gold into something a little steadier. The change in the sun’s position has new shadows creeping out, and they drip off of Kya’s nose and sweat-slick cheekbones like ink. Lin can’t bring herself to drag her eyes away, and she’s too bone-tired to care about getting caught when Kya’s gaze meets hers, just smiles languidly and stretches out on the warm stone like a cat.</p><p>“Feel better?” Kya asks softly.</p><p>“Yeah,” Lin half-says, half-sighs, and the breath leaving her lungs feels like smog, thick and harsh. When she breathes in, slow, sleepy sunlight fills her lungs. She smiles again.</p><p>Lin reaches out and grabs Kya’s hand. Her exhaustion-heavy tongue struggles to catch up with her brain, and she takes a beat to quietly marvel over the way Kya’s long, elegant fingers look wrapped around her own. Strings of words form on her tongue, and she rolls them around her mouth thoughtfully, testing the taste of them, before realising that the only thing she really wants to say can be summed up in two simple words. </p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>Kya brings their clasped hands to her lips and places a gentle kiss on her knuckles. Lin has to turn her head so that the wide expanse of sky can swallow up her dorky grin, lest she explode from all the gooey feelings welling up inside of her at the soft touch. </p><p>“Any time, love.”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>lin: *is angry*<br/>kya: *exists*<br/>lin: :))</p></blockquote></div></div>
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